The Pizzazzy

Some of my fond memories of Japan are those of the potluck dinners. We were around 10-12 Indians staying in studio apartments of the same hotel.

Some weekends we would get hold of any Hindi movie CDs and organize a Movie viewing session where everyone would bring a dish to create a multi-cuisine dinner, a welcome break from the Japanese food.

In one such movie-viewing-potluck-dinner session we gathered for watching the movie Saathiya at one of our friend’s apt on 11th floor. By the time we said goodbye to all our friends it was past 2 in the morning.

After coming out of our friends apt I pressed the button to call the lift. Suddenly my friend said run, and she started for the stairs. And without realizing, I also ran behind her. We ran all the way down from 11th floor to 2nd floor.

During the flight I realized my folly; I had mistakenly, in the drowsy state of slumber, pressed the calling button of the opposite flat. But the lift went only up to 10th floor and the 11th floor had an apt where the lift should have been.

I was so used to coming out of my apt and pressing the lift button that subconsciously I pressed the door bell of apt just opposite to our friends.

Both of reached our apt exhausted and panting, and thanks to the digital locking, went inside within seconds. So, still gasping for air I asked my friend “Okay! I know I pressed the door bell but why did you make me run like a thief.”

My friend replied in her equally breathless state “And, who would have done the explaining to some angry Japanese at 2:30 in the morning”

So this was the whole point, unbeknown to everyone the responsibility of all translations had fallen on her shoulders and she had panicked given the situation at hand.

And we both could have died that day laughing and visualizing her trying to explain to some Japanese guy in her JLPT-level-3-cleared-Japanese-that-had-consistently-given-not-so-acceptable-results-in-the-past, about why we pressed his door bell at 2:30 in the morning.